Attention, potential grooms: It's not your future father-in-law you have to worry about. One Minnesota fiancé discovered that complimenting mom's cooking and youthful countenance wasn't enough to gain the favor of her daughter's hand.
Mary K. Grendahl hired a private investigator to perform a background check on her daughter's suitor. But she went a little too far, according to the The National Law Journal, when the firm she hired nabbed the man's credit report.
The move may be a violation of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which allows firms to peer into credit records for legitimate business reasons, such as decisions on credit, insurance, and employment. But "investigating a person because he wants to marry one's daughter" was a bit out of whack, the court wrote.
The groom-to-be, Lavon Phillips, sued Grendahl, the investigative agency she hired, and Econ (the firm that handed over his credit report) for prying without a legitimate purpose. A Minnesota federal court agreed that he had a case, and granted summary judgment for the trio on all allegations, including a claim that they had invaded Phillips' privacy.
Our advice to grooms before mom pays you a visit is to edit the contents of your medicine cabinet, put the toilet seat down, and clean up your credit record, just in case.
Despite the legal hullabaloo, the private investigator claimed he found much more egregious dirt on Phillips through public records.
The shocking ending to this tale of snooping? Phillips and his fiancée did not marry.
